CSallday

I would say please go to UW and decline Princeton ASAP so I can get off of the Princeton Masters wait list...haha (for real though). But in all seriousness, UW is great for big data, and like others said, you can still change your mind about your career and leave UW with just a masters if you want. So if I were in your situation I would choose UW. But you can't really go wrong with either option

From the results section, it looks like you got an unofficial result from a POI and they send official results for Harvard next week. Quick side question: did you contact with a professor before being admitted to Harvard?

Sure - I have had a couple PhD admission interviews and I am interested in AI/ML so here is what I have found in my experiences: They did not quiz me on any specific concepts related to AI / algorithms, like you would expect in a technical interview for Google or something. However, they asked me about any projects I have worked on related to AI and I had to know enough to talk about it for a couple of minutes. I had one POI ask me "so...what do you know about machine learning?" and I started explaining the basics of ML until it was clear to him that I knew what I was talking about. You should be comfortable enough with the aspect of your professor of interests' research that you can ask intelligent questions during the interview. In all my interviews, the profs spent a good amount of time describing their research and wanted to know if I had any questions. The questions were the starting point for some lively discussions. (Hint: read up on the professor's research and skim over some papers before the interview in order to come up with smart questions beforehand, because you may be too nervous to come up with good questions on the spot...or at least I know I'm that type of person). Anyways, congratulations on the interview, and best of luck!

Long story short: I have already gotten into a top CS PhD program and have interviewed with other multiple top programs. How bad do your grades have to be to get a PhD offer rescinded from a top-5 CS program? To put my case into perspective: when I applied, I had all A's in my CS courses. I made a B and a B+ in two CS courses my Fall semester of my senior year (very few programs ask for fall semester grades). I am also expecting as low as a C in my operating systems course this semester (the class is notoriously hard at the school I go to and the hardest project is during all the grad admissions weekends --- more realistically I will make a B but I want to plan for a C). With these subpar senior year grades (keeping in mind I would continue research and submitting for publications my senior year, so I would in no way be "slacking"), what is the likelihood that I will have my PhD offers rescinded?

Yeah, I had asked that before I checked. So far this year I have gotten interviews from 3 of the schools you mentioned. To answer my own question: Looking back at previous years, there are some schools that usually never interview (MIT EECS, CMU, Stanford, UT Austin). There are also schools that frequently interview, such as the ones you mentioned and MIT Media Lab. Other schools seem to do interviews some years and not other years.

It depends on how you did on the SAT and how long it took you to prepare for that. If you are currently at a top-25 university for undergrad, I assume you did relatively well on the SAT. The GRE is not that much more difficult. Also, GRE is one of the least important parts of the application. Worst case scenario - work for a year and then apply at that point.

Don't worry about employment statistics for the school. Not all schools post this. If you want a Master's in CS, I assume you want to go into software engineering. The way to get a software engineering job in a big company like Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter, Amazon, etc. is to pass the [challenging] tech interviews. If you have a Master's in any of the schools you are considering (top 40 programs) and have a decent GPA, that should be enough to get you through the door for an initial interview. At that point, passing the challenging tech interviews is a matter of recalling and applying everything that you have learned in your CS classes (particularly algorithms / data structures, although difficult full-time interviews will often go into more depth and ask operating systems questions, for example). The UPenn, NYU, and UChicago programs will all open the doors for you to get an interview at any company you want. After that point, it's up to you to pass the interviews and secure the job. I would apply to all 3 schools (and some other programs that you find that are accommodating to students without a CS background). At that point, choose the best program [for you] that you get into!

The Master's program at the University of Chicago is largely tailored to applicants who have little/no CS background. You should look into it!

Research experience will never be harmful. Any type of research that you get will be valuable. If you can show that you know how to do research in CS (via good rec letters from research advisers, publications, etc), then you will be good. If you have a strong profile and have good grades in all of your CS courses, then the committees should see that as being about as good as research experience in the specific area of CS that you write about in your statement of purpose.

Do you know of any PhD programs in CS that require an interview as part of the admissions process? Some of my friends who are applying to graduate programs in other fields have already received interview invites. I have not really seen much talk about interviews in the CS thread of Grad Cafe. I get the impression that CS PhD admissions / potential advisers rarely interview and it is not part of the process...is this correct? If it is not correct, when do they usually send interview invites?

I am kind of freaking out right now. I had submitted my apps a week ago to ensure that everything (GRE scores, transcripts, etc.) arrived on time for the Dec. 15 deadlines. However, I noticed a typo in my statement of purpose. I meant to write "...a visual programming language intended to..." but instead wrote "...a visual programming intended to..." I can image the admission committee thinking that I am not interested enough to read through my statement of purpose, even though I read through it many times and never caught that error... How much should I be freaking out about this? I feel like I have worked so hard for 4 years and now it has all gone to waste over one small typo... These next two months are going to be horrible......

I am kind of freaking out right now. I had submitted my apps a week ago to ensure that everything (GRE scores, transcripts, etc.) arrived on time for the Dec. 15 deadlines. However, I noticed a typo in my statement of purpose. I meant to write "...a visual programming language intended to..." but instead wrote "...a visual programming intended to..." I can image the admission committee thinking that I am not interested enough to read through my statement of purpose, even though I read through it many times and never caught that error... How much should I be freaking out about this? I feel like I have worked so hard for 4 years and now it has all gone to waste over one small typo...

Awesome. I ended up doing this! Now the long and painful wait.........

Are you interested in somehow combining these areas? Or are these simply two different areas that you are interested in?

So how exactly do we calculate this? Do I only consider "computer science" courses, or do I consider all courses that are required for my CS degree? Furthermore, do I include extra CS courses that I took that aren't "major requirements" in this calculation?

My school does not calculate major GPA. Should we leave this blank or calculate it ourselves?

A lot of my applications want me to list the other schools I am applying to. Is it fine to leave this blank or will they be suspicious if I do this?

Would PhD graduate programs frown upon a reduced course load for my second semester senior year (one CS course and one unrelated course)? I could save a lot of money by being a part-time student. I only need these last two courses to graduate, and I could save a lot of money by only registering as a part-time student for my final semester. Would this negatively affect my chances at all, considering the rest of my application is solid?

I would like to go to graduate school for Human-Computer Interaction / Multimedia (Media Lab, computer music, etc). All other parts of my application being great, will pass-failing an artificial intelligence course this semester (the semester I am applying) hurt my chances at all for PhD admissions?

So I don't seem to be that good of a test taker, no matter how much I practice. I have taken tons of GRE practice tests throughout the past year, and taken the official GRE twice. My scores are 163Q/161V/4.5 and 164Q/159V/4.5. It seems that no matter what I do, my scores do not substantially improve. I am planning to apply to top-15 CS PhD programs. I have plenty of research experience, a high GPA, and will have solid rec letters. Are these relatively low GRE scores detrimental to my application? Do they significantly reduce my chances of admission at all?

Do graduate schools ask if you have a disciplinary record at your university? Nothing that would show up on a transcript, but a disciplinary record for something such as improperly hosting a party or public intoxication? If they do, does this affect chances of admission at all? I will be applying to computer science graduate schools.

Do graduate schools ask if you have a disciplinary record at your university? Nothing that would show up on a transcript, but a disciplinary record for something such as improperly hosting a party or public intoxication? If they do, does this affect chances of admission at all? Has anyone seen it specifically come up on their CS applications?

I am interested in a PhD in machine learning. Two of my rec letters will come from computer engineering professors who I did research with. The last one is up for debate. One option is with a professor who knows me well and whose class I TA'd many times working closely with the professor. The other is a professor in machine learning whose class I took and did really well in, but I don't otherwise have too much of a connection to. I am worried about having no rec letters from an AI/machine learning professor even though that's the field I wish to pursue.

I am interested in pursuing a PhD in artificial intelligence/machine learning. Because of the way my school works with prerequisites, I will not be able to complete the AI and machine learning courses at my university before grad school applications are due. I have plenty of research experience, but none of it is in AI or machine learning. If I take MOOC courses in machine learning and AI this summer on Coursera and successfully complete them, is it worth mentioning this on my personal statement? Will it help to show that I do in fact understand the basics of these fields? Would it hurt? Would it hurt to not include this information, given my currrent situation? Thanks for any advice!

I am a CS major. I have taken many CS courses throughout my college career. However, this semester, I am in one CS course that I plan to drop because it is not required, isn't too interesting, and is taking time away from my research. I am taking two courses for the general requirements of my university, an electrical engineering course, research for credit, and another research methods class. Will this lack of CS courses in my final semester before I apply negatively affect my chances for PhD admissions?